My girlfriend got scammed and list money on Craigslist! Please help!?!?

Sorry to read that your girlfriend lost money to a scammer running a scam but happy that you found this site to post your story.

Thanks for posting up that information on a scam.

Making a scammer's scam googlable on every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find is a great way to slow that scammer down when a suspicious potential victim goes looking for information, finds your post containing the name the scammer is using, his email address, phone number and the emails themselves and then that potential victim does not become a scam victim because you took the time "get the word out".

Wasting a scammer's time legally and safely is called "scambaiting". If you google that word, you will find sites where you can read scambaits, post up the emails and email addresses of scammers, post up a fake website, read up on how to alert a hosting company that they are hosting a fake website, ask questions and learn all about the hobby of scambaiting.

Since that scammer intended to steal your money, he did not giving you his real life information. All you have is one of his fake names, one of his free email addresses, one of his fake stories and one of his paid-for-in-cash cell phone numbers. None of that information is going to help your local law enforcement agency track down that anonymous scammer sitting in a cyber cafe half way around the world from you.

Craigslist has a warning on their site, to never deal with people not in your own city-- That is the entire premise of the website is to have no shipping. The second you ignore this--the vultures are there ready to scam you, on Craigslist..

This "escrow" scam using Ebay motors, Yahoo Finance, Craigslist as a Money " holder" while the car is shipped..happens all the time on Craigslist. They always tell the person they are being deployed to Afghanistan or some heart touching story. I never quite understand why someone would give a stranger such a large sum of money for a car, that they have never seen, driven, or had checked out by a mechanic. Yet, the car is always a " too good to be true" buy.

This is the FBI Internet Fraud. However, most of the people who do this..are out of the country.

http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/internet_fra...

Western Union is a fine company but never use it to pay a stranger. See their notice. Anytime you see WU in a transaction online. Run. You have no recourse in getting your money back when you wire it via WU.

Western Union's Fraud Notice

https://wumt.westernunion.com/WUCOMWEB/staticMid.d...

There's a very, very slim chance she will ever get the money back. She's been robbed. This will have a big effect on her. Make sure you support her and keep your trust level on a high standard with her. She may lose her faith in mankind, and shun people altogether for a while. So, make sure to be trustworthy to her.

Every time I see this scam happen to someone, it makes me physically feel sick. There's not much else you can do except report the theft. Thats why they use the Western Union option.. you cant get the money back, any way.

Im very sorry.

She needs to go to your local police station and file a report

I don't know why she chose to ignore the red warning on the top of every single Craigslist listing or way anyone would even consider buying a car they had not seen, test driven and verified the seller is the same person whose name is on the title

I don't know how effective a police report is.

Western Union wiring scams are notorious on the internet.

You need to verify checks because they can bounce days later! Banks can verify checks and calling them is always recommended, ESPECIALLY when dealing with strangers.

NEVER agree on wiring and cashing checks from people you never met, so easily.

also SCAMMERS hate paypal. iono y

I am truly sorry, but I don't think anything can be done.This goes on every day.There are so many rotten people that screw people over.